


The Simple Life

by Tentacle_Therapist3



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: FIRST robotics - Freeform, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, Rape Aftermath, Real Life, Robotics, Slow Build, Slow Romance, Social Anxiety, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, first lots of other stuff ;), really long story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-11 09:35:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10461738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tentacle_Therapist3/pseuds/Tentacle_Therapist3
Summary: Hinata struggles to get used to high school life at Karasuno; he hides his anxiety and feels disconnected with people, despite his happy and social exterior. then along comes charming Oikawa, who invites Hinata to join the school's robotics team, and from then on Hinata's life will never be the same.A somewhat true story made for Haikyuu!!, filled with drama, confusion, and the quest to understand both yourself and what love really is.





	1. Act 1. S.C. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I know this is short! I'm getting started, and want to see if anyone will actually read this before I put anything more in to it. I've got everything laid out for a good story, so I'll try to keep posting if people like it!

Act I, S.C. I  
Though you may not always know it, there’s a story for every person. In the nooks and crannies of a crowded life you might find traces of a person, deep within layer upon layer of façade. Beneath a love of sports and common interests with their peers, the cracks in the masonry reveal a child, weak and small, destined to flourish if only given the chance. A person, for whatever reason, may decide that it’s in their best interest to hide their quirks and abnormalities for the sake of the very people they are meant to be close with and honest to. The result can often be traumatic; a loss of a sense of self. That which makes them unique falls comatose; unreachable, untouchable, and infallible until, one day, something changes. A person, whatever their shape, size, or mindset, reaches out in just the right way. A connection, no matter how small, ties the two people together in a safe, welcoming way that coaxes what was hidden from its hideaway. That tiny light, buried deep within, takes hold of that extended olive branch and, in the process, the person finds themselves in another’s light. This is a story of one such awakening; a boy, born with flaming hair and a spirit just as bright finds that life is not a straight path. He does however, find that love is key to moving forward, if it is only given the chance to grow.  
  
The school was big. Far too big, in his opinion, to make him feel at all comfortable around people his age. Karasuno High School was meant to house twelve hundred students, and Hinata Shouyou truly only liked a select few of them. Shifting the weight of his backpack’s shoulder strap, he descended the several steps from the bus to the slick concrete, taking in a deep breath. The sky was hardly light with the storm clouds overhead, yet the shallow puddles on the walkway reflected the dim morning light, and in turn reflected the massive wall of windows three stories high. Several feet in front of him were two sets of double doors under a thick metal overhang, each with a not-so-white handle from years of weathering and greasy adolescent hands. He stepped down onto the curb, avoiding the night crawlers that had escaped the saturated soil. Just to his left Hinata saw the grassy semi-circles that made up the schools amphi-theatre, the open courtyard surrounded with burning bushes and stout trees, the upward slope of concrete path that led to the office and the parking lot, and an even bigger wall of windows that he could only assume to be the cafeteria.  
  
Though it had stopped raining sometime in the night, the ground was still thoroughly soaked and Hinata took care to make sure his new converses didn’t get too muddy.  
  
He always found that mornings like these made him especially tired. The bus rides were always quiet with the darkness of early morning, the privacy of the high-rising fake leather seats, and the gentle vibrations of the bus lulling everyone into a kind of drunken stupor. He was aware, however, of the fact that one wrong move would make all eyes turn to you, in a subtle, staring way that terrified him. Just the thought of dropping his messenger bag while getting off the bus made him tremble slightly.  
  
As he made his way into the building, Hinata noticed the muddy floors led through the curved hallway past an art room, with murals on the cinderblocks outside the entrance. Other students passively walked alongside him, and Hinata could not stop the flood of nervousness as they came close to him, glancing at his clothes, his face, and his terribly messy hair. This pressure is intense, he thought to himself, following the flow of the crowd, Hinata crossed through a glass walkway that led from the classroom pods to the gymnasium and the cafeteria.  
  
The wet windowpanes reflected the fluorescent light above him, and Hinata watched with shame as his messy hair bounced with the uneasy rhythm of his footsteps. Though he knew there wasn’t any reason to worry, he found himself fiddling with his spiky mess in a futile effort to make it better. It didn’t. Soon enough he entered the cafeteria; the ceiling above him was a catwalk on the second floor, supported by thick brick pillars every few feet. The glass railings that lined the catwalk threaded down two sets of stairs on either side of the large hall, and hanging lamps seemed to drip from the ceiling high above.  
  
Aside from the interesting architecture, Hinata knew that he had to find his friends. Scanning the rows of tables covered with other students, he spotted the dark hair of Kuro Tetsuro, the white striped mop of Bokuto Koutarou and the annoyed Akaashi Keiji, the bored look of Yahaba Shigeru, and the stern-faced scowl of Kageyama Tobio, among other stragglers of whom he somewhat knew. Upon making eye-contact with Kuro, Hinata waved and headed in their direction.  
“Hey guys you ready to start high school?” He asked, filling his voice with sunny optimism.  
“hardly,” Yahaba snorted, scrolling through Facebook on his phone, “I wanna go back to sleep. Getting up early is stupid.”  
“Good morning to you too Sunny-Side,” Kuro grinned, knowing that Hinata hated being called by some stupid name like “Sunny-Side.”  
“Shut! UP! Kuro! God, you are such an asshole!” Hinata squawked, throwing his book-bag down onto the floor and sliding into a chair. “just cause you’re a sophomore doesn’t mean you can treat us freshman like garbage!”  
“uh, yes it does,” Kuro shot back, grinning slyly.  
“good morning Hinata!” Bokuto shouted from the other end of the table. He was sitting right next to Akaashi, just close enough that Hinata could immediately tell: the summer before this year had started had given them time to “bond” and sort out their feelings. He snickered to himself and looked across the table at Kageyama, who was enthralled in a thickly-bound hardcover book.  
“whatcha readin’?” he sing-songed, kicking kageyama’s long spindly legs beneath the table to get his attention.  
“OW!” Kageyama yelled, “what the fuck dumb-ass Hinata?” 

Instead of a reply, Hinata just laughed. Kageyama was a total sour-puss, but it didn’t matter. They were friends, and Hinata was grateful to feel comfortable with someone. It didn’t matter that they swore and sometimes fought; it was fun. Seeing that they were ramping up to fight, Yahaba quickly cuts Kageyama off;  
“Hey Hinata, did you go to your homeroom and get your class schedule?”  
“Oh, crap no I didn’t!”  
  
Feeling fully embarrassed, he ran off in the direction of his homeroom. He already knew what classes he was taking, but he had no inclination to see who his teachers were. He hated school, he hated his permanently bad grades, and he hated the sympathetic frowns of his teachers saying “he’s just not living up to his potential.”  
  
Dragging himself up the three flights of stairs, Hinata could not help but get the feeling that this year wasn’t going to be as good as he’d hoped.


	2. Act 1. S.C. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to post what I've got for now, and add a little extra to this later! Enjoy!

During the summer before his freshman year, Hinata, Kuro, Bokuto, and Akaashi had slaved through band camp. The week-long nightmare was endlessly tiring, and Hinata could hardly take it. The pounding of their feet into the parched grass, the intense, suffocating heat of the sun bearing down on their already tan legs, it was almost too much for the pale redhead. Every water break he would guzzle a bottle of water and reapply a thick layer of sunscreen, only to nurse nasty burns before showering in the permanently cold showers. the walk from the dorms where they slept was ten minutes of uphill to the field, and meals were bland at the cafeteria.   
All his friends had already gone through a year of school and camp so they did their best to help him, but for the most part Hinata just wanted to pass out. He missed his friends Izumin and Koji, who were neither in band or in any of his classes. He managed to find his group and settle in, but it still bothered him from time to time.  
It was in this blinding heat of summer, however, that Hinata met Kageyama. After dragging himself out of bed one morning for practice, Hinata had been sleepily eating cereal at the breakfast table when Kuro had approached the group. Hinata had looked up and given a weak wave and a yawn, noticing that a skinny, scowling boy was trailing behind him. Giving his signature sly grin, he announced that this was Kageyama, a second year who had just moved to Karasuno and would now be their friend. He snickered upon remembering that Kageyama had bowed so low and so aggressively that hit his forehead on the table. Red-faced and flustered, he had rushed off to find a chaperone to put something over the bleeding.  
As Hinata sat down in his spot on the floor, he looked over at Kageyama, noticing the small puckered line of a scar across his brow. He snickered under his breath again and attempted to get his attention. He waved spastically, filling himself with a false glee and smiling bright as the sun. The dark-haired boy looked up from his book and scowled.  
“What do you want Hinata?”  
“Good morning to you too! Did you suck on a lemon or something?”  
“Better than pouring orange juice in my hair.” Kageyama shot back, grinning in a scary, twisted way that made his skin crawl.  
“Hey it’s not my fault my hair is so damn bright! And besides, at least I don’t need bangs to cover up a scar from bowing!”  
Kageyama visibly flinched, and his face began to turn a shade of beet red. For a moment Hinata was afraid that he had actually gone too far, hurt his friend’s feelings, made him feel terrible oh god what had he done why was he like thi-  
“You asshole!” Kageyama shouted, grabbing hold of Hinata’s fluffy bedhead and squeezing his cranium till he thought it would burst. Hinata laughed, because if Kageyama was fighting like this it meant everything was ok.  
“ow ow ow my head’s going to pop!” he whined, and with Bokuto’s help he was freed from the iron grip.  
  
Before Hinata even had time to blink, September was over. His classes were the following:  
History, where he slept, read a book, stared out the window, or anything else other than learning what old dead person did what.  
Earth science, where he learned that rocks are smarter than his teacher.  
Geometry, which might as well have been French because he has no idea what the teacher was saying.  
English, where half the time he actually didn’t know what the teacher was saying.  
Band, where he hid his phone behind his horn while the director wasn’t looking.  
Gym, where he was annoyed that the gym teacher actually gave them homework. Overall, his grades were shit. As hard as he tried to listen, pay attention, and finish the mountian of worksheets, it never seems to make a difference. He quickly became disheartened: 'I'll never get any better' ran through his head till he just gave up. Not that anyone else knew. He wanted his friends to think he was ditsy, somewhat smart maybe, and above all happy. It seemed to him that his masquerade was working; no one had called him stupid or refused to be near him, so everything was fine. It was fine. He was fine.  
  
His friends had quickly decided that sitting in the cafeteria in the morning was far too loud and crowded, so they moved to the floor outside the library. It quickly became Hinata’s favorite place in the whole school because he felt safe with all his friends around him. A small group of misfits that no one wants, taking refuge under a couple of broken lights.  
He enjoyed getting help from Yahaba with English, and Kuro took some time out of his morning to talk about how easy earth science was. More often than not, he would secretly watch Bokuto and Akaashi, whom had a budding relationship that was nothing to sniff at. Sometimes, just sometimes, Hinata wondered what it would be like to be in love. 'The likelihood of someone loving me is slim,' he thought, but Hinata didn’t mind. Thinking of love was better than losing it, feeling the anxiety of loss that came with it . It was far better than being stared at, nervously picking at his clothes, nails, and bag. Other than to save his perfect image with those around him, Hinata felt no motivation in school, even now that it was high school and everything was supposed to be important.

The world swam back into view slowly. Hinata sat up in bed, his mind still foggy as he brought himself back from his dream-reality and back into the real world. He slept on a loft, so his head was only two or three inches from the ceiling, but he could feel his bedhead brush the poster he had taped above his face to stare at as he fell asleep. Rubbing his eyes, he blinked, trying to get the sleep to leave. He didn’t want to get up. He didn’t want to see people. He didn’t want to stare at his bad grades and hastily cover up the bright red pen marks with another piece of paper.  
He was awake now. Grabbing the wooden railing and feeling his bed squeak with protest, he flipped one leg out of the bed and landed somewhat gracefully on his feet. Pulling his night shirt off, he quickly found another tee to wear that wasn’t dirty on the floor and pulled it on. He didn’t like looking at himself in the mirror naked; it made him feel sick. There wasn’t anything wrong with him, he knew that, but the feeling never left. After getting everything ready to go, he kissed his baby sister goodbye and began his walk to the bus stop.  
It was mid-October now, and the leaves were changing rapidly. As the morning sun slowly rose in the horizon, pale golden light illuminated the brilliant reds, oranges, yellows and almost-purples of the maple trees that lined his street. Motes of dust wafted along on a light breeze, and a gentle hush of the wind in the trees almost made him forget that he had to go to school at all. Somewhere in the trees, a crow called out, and Hinata felt at home in the early morning quiet. He thought of kageyama and his friends, and watched the sun rise.   
The school bell ran loudly overhead, momentarily drowning out Takeda-sensei, who reminded them that their essay rough draft was due tomorrow. Hinata was excited for lunch because he had forgotten his packed one at home, meaning that whatever nicety they were attempting to serve in the cafeteria would be his to choose from.   
Throwing his messenger bag over his shoulder, he dashed down the stairs to the first floor, blowing past Bokuto and Akaashi. Bokuto immediately gave chase like Hinata had hoped, and the two of them nearly bowled Kageyama over.  
“watch where you’re going!” he shouted, running after them.  
Hinata smiled gleefully, racing ahead of his friends and dodging his slow peers.   
"Get back here!" Bokuto shouted, reaching out to grab Hinata's bag.  
Hinata just laughed and dodged the outstretched hand, tripping Kageyama to make him angrier.  
Hinata didn't feel nervous at times like this; his friends were behind him, and his blood raced in his veins.  
In order to get food from the cafeteria, they had to go around to the side entrance of the servery. The double doors that led inward were part of a hallway that went around Karasuno high school’s theater, and directly across from the servery entrance was a kind of alcove. This alcove served as a side entrance to the theater, but also as a spot for mismatched students to hang out and eat lunch.  
As Hinata rushed by with his friends, he briefly made eye contact one such student. His light brown hair shown under the fluorescent lights, and his white and teal jacket only made him seem brighter. He was stretched out on the little wall that blocked a part of the alcove off from the hallway, one leg up and the other laid flat, resting against his backpack and a supporting steel beam. His smile, while at first seemed pure and sweet, hide something deeper, and Hinata quickly decided that it was far scarier than anything Kageyama could ever come up with. Before he could make out any more of the boy, however, Bokuto slammed into him and forced his body into the kitchen.  
“Time for some hot food!” he screeched, laughing boisterously as Kageyama panted.

They grabbed their food and headed to an open table. The cafeteria was as loud as ever, and Hinata felt the nervousness sitting on his shoulder like some dark, flightless bird.  
"so how's geometry?" He asked Akaashi.  
"It's good." He said curtly, but bokuto stood over the chair and leaned on Akaashi's shoulders, stating:  
"that's code for 'I should be in algebra 2',"  
He laughed at Akaashi's huff of disapproval.  
Hinata briefly caught the slight smile on Yahaba's face as he worked on homework, and kageyama looked confused as the flirting went over his head.  
Glancing outside the bubble of his group, Hinata saw the slight stares from other tables. He tried to pretend he hadn't seen, but the black bird on his shoulder only got heavier.  
"Hey guys," He spoke up, gaining the attention of everyone at the table.  
"you know that alcove outside the lunchroom entrance?"  
"What about it?" Kuro asked.  
"I think we should sit there!" He lifted his voice to cheer himself a bit.  
"What's wrong with this table?" Yahaba asked.  
"Nothing, I just thought it would be cool!"  
"If it means less noise," Kageyama quipped.  
Everyone else seemed to like the idea, so they planned to sit there the following lunchtime. Hinata chatted brightly with everyone, and left to go to English with Izumin. As he walked, he thought back to the boy sitting on the wall. 'He was actually pretty good looking,' he realized, and shook his head. 'I don't even know him!' He decided that the greasy cafeteria food made him sleepy, and thought instead about the essay he still hadn't done.


End file.
